Moonlight Shadow
by netbus
Summary: Song Fic. Raphael witnesses a suicide and wonders if he could have done more to help. Set to the lyrics of “Moonlight Shadow” by Mike Oldfield.


**Summary:** Raphael witnesses a suicide and wonders if he could have done more to help. Set to the lyrics of "Moonlight Shadow" by Mike Oldfield.

**Disclaimer:** No copyright infringement is intended.

**Rating:** Rated for mild swearing and somewhat graphic descriptions.

**MOONLIGHT SHADOW**

Raphael couldn't remember a time when he felt more angry at his brother Leo. It was times like this when the great outdoors was more inviting than ever. It wasn't his turn to do night patrol, but he went out anyway – anything to get away from that stubborn brother of his. For some reason, he and Leo just didn't agree (on just about everything). Leo was usually quite patient with all his other brothers, but come Raph and he often exhibited a whole other manner.

Raph had a reason to be upset. That's why he had come out here in the first place. But after witnessing what had just happened, he found that he couldn't recall the reason. It just didn't seem to matter any more.

Raph was not looking for crime. He wasn't even looking for the lone car that characterized the roads at this time of the night. He was just watching the street while replaying the fight that he'd had with Leo earlier that nigh in his mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a young woman come up onto the roof of one of the buildings about three blocks down from where he was standing. He quickly dashed out of the way so she wouldn't see him. She didn't. She didn't even look in his direction. She just kept on walking. Raph kept watching. She looked up at the cloudless sky. It was ironic that the moon should be so gay on this night. It was still waxing but it was getting close to a full moon. She thought back to the last time she had seen the moon so clearly at night and tears began to fill her eyes. She kept on walking.

By now she was hovering precariously close to the edge. She stopped, stood at the edge and looked down. Raph realized what she was about to do, he just didn't think that anyone would be stupid enough to actually go through with it. He ran toward her just as she took her last step. He cascaded over several buildings to try to get to her, but by the time he got to the position where she had been standing, she was gone.

"Hey!" Raph called out into the night.

A chilling thud and a half-strangled cry was all that he got in reply. She had landed in the middle of the alley.

He raced down the stairs to reach her. He just couldn't believe how slow he had been. He should have ran to help her earlier. If he hadn't been so consumed in his own thoughts, he might have been able to sense her desperation before she got to the edge. He… He had basically just watched her do it. He had watched her take her own life without once coming out of his hiding place – until the very end…

_The last that ever she saw him  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
He passed on worried and warning  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow.  
Lost in a riddle last saturday night  
Far away on the other side.  
He was caught in the middle of a desperate fight  
And she couldn't find how to push through_

She had landed on her front. Apart from some scratches on the surface of the skin where her clothes had become torn, there was virtually no blood. But Raph didn't have to be a brilliant physician to figure out that she probably had a lot of internal bleeding and had probably fractured every good bone in her body. He put his fingers by her nose. She was still breathing! Only very faintly but there was a million to one chance that she could be saved. He left her and made for the nearest pay phone – which was half way down the main road.

_The trees that whisper in the evening  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Sing a song of sorrow and grieving  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
All she saw was a silhouette of a gun  
Far away on the other side.  
He was shot six times by a man on the run  
And she couldn't find how to push through_

He got back from the pay phone and tested for breath again. Ever so faint, she was hanging on to the mere thread of life. Unfortunately for Raph, there was not much else he could really do for her. He didn't dare move her, because if she fractured her spine, moving her would cause more damage than it did good. He found an inconspicuous place to hide several metres away and there he kept a vigil for her; waiting for the ambulance to arrive as her life kept slipping away.

_I stay  
I pray  
I see you in heaven far away  
I stay  
I pray  
I see you in heaven one day_

Raph hated this feeling – that he couldn't do anything more than just watch and wait was a level of anxiety that had not experienced to this extent before. No doubt it would be a memory that would haunt him for many days to come.

This was not his first encounter with death. He had killed before; whether those he killed deserved to die or not was another matter. H e had commited the sin of cold blood. But he had never seen it like this. What should have been a scene in a movie had happened right before his eyes. She was a cherry blossom still blooming, and to be separated from her tree like this… He tried to think of a motive but couldn't. even though life is a down right pain in the arse, he still preferred existence to non-exsitence; pain to silence. She had left without a word and now her story would die with her.

_Four am in the morning  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
I watched your vision forming  
Carried away by a moonlight shadow  
Stars move slowly in a silvery night  
Far away on the other side  
Will you come to talk to me this night  
But she couldn't find how to push through_

By the time the paramedics arrived, he had given up all hope that they would be able to revive her. But he had done the right thing and telephoned emergency services. The police arrived soon after and started putting police tape across the alley on either side of where she fell. Raph quickly left the place and made for the nearest manhole. It now looked like a crime scene, although Raph wasn't completely sure if it was a crime. It was a sad tragedy – yes. But calling it a crime seemed a bit much.

_I stay  
I pray  
I see you in heaven far away  
I stay  
I pray  
I see you in heaven one day_

He made his way back to the lair slowly but steadily. He knew the sewer network off by heart and before long was running on auto-pilot. He couldn't even remember how he got home – only that he did.


End file.
